The original Subaru WRX had the mission of not only being a high-performance version of the road-going Impreza, but also of winning WRC. Since then, the Subaru WRX has repeatedly shown the power to fight it out at the highest levels of WRC, going on to become the first Japanese car to win WRC three times in a row. In WRC and in later years the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race, the WRX name continues to put up the best fight against the world’s top super sports car brands. The track-focused WRX STI has already won its class at the Nürburgring 24 Hours twice in a row and, in 2014, the all-new WRX STI, which makes its way to South Africa later in 2014 and in limited numbers, will enter the ‘Ring once more in the race to glory.
Successive WRX models have sought to offer both the absolute speed and handling characteristics offered by genuine sports sedans and the new, 4th generation WRX continues to embody this philosophy, with the practicality and comfort to double as a daily-use vehicle with true sports car attributes.
The all-new WRX represents a new era for Subaru’s greatest performance vehicle. Featuring new-age drivetrain technology including Sports Lineartronic™ and Active Torque Vectoring, a new turbocharged Boxer® engine, Subaru’s famous Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive™ and refined appointment, the new WRX subscribes perfectly to the Subaru ethos, ‘Confidence in Motion’. The new WRX also brings true sports car performance and handling to a more affordable level, being benchmarked against some of the world’s most revered sports cars but available at a much lower price level.
In developing the new WRX, Subaru engineers sought out to provide power and control at a higher level than before and not just in numbers on paper a holistic approach was adopted to all the factors which culminate in producing absolute speed. These include having enough power available to cover ground quickly, a drivetrain which delivers this power with minimal loss on contact with the road surface, and a high lateral g-force limit during cornering. Responsiveness was also highlighted, with quick and immediate reaction to driver inputs key to achieving ultimate driver engagement. Linked to weight reduction, improved body rigidity and thoroughly-boosted chassis performance, ‘Pure Power in Your Control’ emerged as the perfect motto for the new WRX.
